Cover not available
Part of
Hispanic Linguistics at the Crossroads: Theoretical linguistics, language acquisition and language contact
Edited by Rachel Klassen, Juana M. Liceras and Elena Valenzuela
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 4] 2015
► pp. 231–250

Morphological adjectival intensifier variation in Lima, Peru

| Arizona State University

This variationist study is the first addressing the alternation of adjectival intensifiers -ísimo (standard) and -azo (non-standard) in Spanish, concretely, in the Limeño variety of Peru.Using online digitalized corpora, online journals, magazines, and e-networks, I conducted a multivariate analysis of this alternation. The results show that language use in colloquial texts of e-networks favor the use of -azo, as well as male speakers, which suggests covert prestige. Semantically negative adjectives, commonly used in colloquial texts, also favor the non-standard variant. Interestingly, stative/resultative constructions of the form estar + participle with an experiencer argument promote the use of -azo, suggesting that it is more specialized than -ísimo, which has a broader distribution.

Keywords: e-networks, intensifier, Peru, style, variation
Published online: 30 July 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.4.12cer
References
Alarcos, E
(1994) Gramática de la lengua española. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe.Google Scholar
Alcina, J., & Blecua, J.M
(1991) Gramática española. Barcelona: Ariel.Google Scholar
Bello, A
(1981 [1847]) Gramática de la lengua castellana destinada al uso de los Americanos. Edición Crítica de Ramón Trujillo. Tenerife: Instituto Universitario de Lingüística Andrés Bello/Cabildo Insular de Tenerife.Google Scholar
Bosque, I., & Demonte, V
(1999) Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española 3. Madrid: Espasa. Google Scholar
Brown, L.A., & Tagliamonte, S
(2012) A really interesting story: The influence of narrative in linguistic change. University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics 18, Selected Papers from NWAV 49, 2, 1–10.Google Scholar
Cerrón-Palomino, Á
(2003) Sobre los grados del adjetivo calificativo español. Lexis, 27(2), 261–282.Google Scholar
Falcinelli, A
(2007) Valores y funciones del sufijo -azo en el español actual y sus equivalencias en italiano. Rivista di Lingue e culture moderne, 1, 23–54.Google Scholar
García Zapata, C
(1999) Aspectos pragmáticos de la exageración en el habla coloquial antioqueña. Colombia Lingüística y Literatura, 1(1), 9–20.Google Scholar
Ito, R., & Tagliamonte, S
(2003) Well weird, right dodgy, very strange, really cool: Layering and recycling in English intensifiers. Language in Society, 32(2), 257–279. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kany, C
(1969) Sintaxis hispanoamericana. Madrid: Gredos.Google Scholar
Labov, W
(1972) Sociolinguistic Patterns. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
(2001) Principles of linguistic change, social factors. Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lamíquiz Ibáñez, V
(1991) La cuantificación lingüística y los cuantificadores. Madrid: UNED.Google Scholar
Martinell, E
(1989) Estilística de la gradación en los adjetivos. Actas del X Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, 4, 1253–1262. Universidad de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Matto de Turner, C
(1948 [1889]) Aves sin nido. Cuzco: Universidad Nacional del Cuzco.Google Scholar
Montoro del Arco, E.T., & Almela Pérez, R
2008 Grados de comparación: Errores tradicionales y nuevo marco teórico. Estudios Románicos, 16/17, 727–736.Google Scholar
Peñalillo, M.I
(2012) Estudio sociolingüístico sobre el uso del superlativo en la región de Valparaíso, Chile. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation. Universidad de Valladolid.
Porto Dapena, J-Á
(1973) A propósito de los grados del adjetivo: Aportación al estudio del sistema de cuantificación en el adjetivo español. Thesaurus, 28, 344–357.Google Scholar
(1985) La cuantificación del adjetivo en español actual desde el punto de vista de la expresión. In A. Blecua, J.M. Blecua, & F. Rico (Eds.), Philologica Hispaniensia in Honorem M. Alvar 2, (pp. 541–555). Madrid: Gredos.Google Scholar
Real Academia Española
(2010) Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Buenos Aires: Editorial Planeta.Google Scholar
Roca Pons, J
(1958) Estudios sobre perífrasis verbales del español. Revista de Filología Española, 67, 1–403.Google Scholar
Sánchez, C., Marín, R., & Evert, S
(2012) Measuring lexical extension: The case of Spanish estar + past participle. Poster presented at Linguistic Evidence 2012. Empirical, Theoretical and Computational Perspectives , Tübingen, February 9–11.
Tagliamonte, S
(2008) So different and pretty cool! Recycling intensifiers in Toronto, Canada. English Language and Linguistics, 12, 361–394. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Variationist Sociolinguistics: Change, Observation, Interpretation. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Trudgill, P
(1972) Sex, covert prestige and linguistic change in urban British English. Language in Society, 1, 179–195. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Varela, S
(1989) Verbal and adjectival participles in Spanish. In C. Laeufer & T.A. Morgan (Eds.), Theoretical analyses in Romance linguistics: Selected papers from the Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages XIX, (pp. 219–234). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar